New World Heritage Site in Israel

The Baha'i Gardens in Haifa, already one of the city's landmarks, have been named a World Heritage Site.

The latest site in Israel to win designation from UNESCO as a World Heritage Site is Haifa's Baha'i Gardens, a place sacred to what may be the least-known religion in the conflict-torn Holy Land.

The gardens, which climb from the base of Mount Carmel to its summit, include the Shrine of the Bab, a prominent Haifa landmark and a visual symbol of the Baha'i faith's emphasis on worldwide religious unity.

The domed shrine, completed in 1953, contains the tomb of Siyyard Ali Muhammed, a Persian who was the chief precursor of the Baha'i religion. He was executed for heresy in 1850 by Muslim authorities. His remains were brought to Haifa in 1909 and remained hidden for years before the permanent memorial was built.

The Baha'i faith was an outgrowth of Muslim culture in much the same way that Christianity arose from Jewish traditions. The Baha'i believe that there is but one God, and great world prophets including Moses, Jesus, Buddha and Muhammad are heavenly teachers with the same basic message.

The magnificent Baha'i Gardens in Haifa, Israel, ascend Mount Carmel.

Baha'u'llah, the latest of these messengers, was born in Iran in 1817 and laid the foundations for the modern Baha'i faith before his death in Acre in 1892. He taught the oneness of God, the oneness of the human family, and the oneness of religion -- views that led to his imprisonment and exile from his native Iran. Today the Baha'i faith has spread worldwide and counts about six million adherents in 200 countries.

In the late 1980s, this global community marshalled the resources to complete the Baha'i "World Centre" in Haifa -- work that literally included moving and reshaping a mountain. The nineteen meticulously landscaped terraces rising up Mount Carmel were officially opened in May of 2001.

The Baha'i Gardens already are the sixth or seventh most visited spot in Israel. They join eight other Israeli site including the oldest portions of Jerusalem and Acre and the tels of Beersheba and Hazor on the list of World Heritage Sites.

In recognizing the significance of the Baha'l holy places in Haifa and Acre, the UNESCO committee cited their "outstanding universal value in their testimony of universal peace, equality and justice." The site in Acre includes a shrine to Baha'u'llah.